Thursday

I went to help Helen today to deliver deviled eggs to some people in the ward who were having a hard time. I was excited to help her serve others. When I got there she was quietly crying. Tears streaming down her face. She looked so worn out and tired. I asked her what was wrong as I gave her a hug. She told me that her friend's-husband's-brother just passed away. She had hears in her eyes about a man she didn't even know. She proceeded to tell how sad she felt inside for her friend and how painful it must be fore them and their family. I asked Helen if she knew that she didn't have to take the pain of everyone else upon her shoulders. She said to me, " I know I don't have to, but I want to. I know it is what He would have done."  She paused for a moment as more tears came down her face. "He would have wanted me to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those in need of comfort."

Helen's testimony and example helps me learn how to be more like the Savior. She lives His gospel daily through words, actions and deeds. I am blessed to know her and feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for her in my life. 

Fun with kids

We went to Discovery Gateway today with a few kids. It was fun!

iPhone post

I'm using a new iPhone app called BlogPress to create this post. I thought I would share this picture I took:



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Our Anniversary

This weekend we celebrated our three year wedding anniversary.

In that short amount of time, we've both graduated from college, gained full-time employment, and bought a house. We've also traveled to lots of exciting places including Nova Scotia, and the Redwood forest in Northern California. We also got a whole bunch of new nieces and nephews.

An extra special surprise this year! Katie surprised me and got me an iPhone. I've been wanting one ever since they came out a few years ago, and then even more when it finally arrived on Verizon. But plans to get one ended when we found a house to buy. And since all our money was spent in that direction, I was content to continue waiting. But now I don't have to wait any longer!

So now I have the new white iPhone 4, which means I'll be carrying a camera with Internet on it essentially everywhere I go. So I'll have an excuse to take pictures of stuff and post them on the blog.

Location!!

The best part about our house is the LOCATION!!!! We love our Sugarhouse home. Here's why:

Walking Distance: 

• Sugar house Park 
• Blue Plate Diner
• Our Ward house
• Hunan Gardens (Chinese food)
• Great Harvest Bread
• Anderson-Foothill Library

5 minutes away: 

• The FREEWAY entrance
• Home Goods and Brickyard
• DI
• Desert Book
• Sprague Library
• The dentist
• My hairdresser
• Foothill Shopping

10 minutes away: 

• My Mom's House
• University of Utah
• Our doctors office
• Costco
• The Hogle Zoo

15 minutes away: 

• My Work
• Braden's Work
• Braden's Moms
• Downtown
• The SL LDS Temple

20 minutes away:

• Fort Union Shopping Center, etc. 
• Bountiful Shopping

There are many more things really close by to us but the freeway is the best part about where we live. We are so glad to be right by the freeway and are glad that we live in a location that is in the city but also residential. Most of all we are glad to be by the things that are important in our life right now. We spend less money on gas, less time in the car, and more time with friends and family doing the things that we love! 

Blogs with Pictures

I apologize. We don't have pictures up on the blog yet.

If you're anything like Katie and me, you have an RSS feeder that alerts you of new posts on your favorite blogs, and then just scroll through it until you see a picture of something that interests you and then if you have to, you read the post (or at least part of it). We just don't blog like that. We read blogs that way, but that is not the way our blog posts usually end up. Hardly ever are there any post with pictures. Only sometimes. Usually just text that nobody wants to read.

So I apologize. I'll do better in the future to make more posts with pictures, and write a lot less text to read.

Downstairs Dilema

Before we moved into our house we were getting prepared to fill it up with furniture by buying a used couch and chair we liked from craigslist. But unfortunately our couch didn't fit down the stairs and the chair didn't fit through the doorway to our office. Sad face...
So we're still on the lookout for a couch that will fit through the narrow space. Hopefully we find something soon. We need to sit on something besides our camp chairs to watch tv... whenever we watch it.

Our Style

Well we've moved into our house and put all the furniture in place. Most of it we brought with us from our apartment, but some of it is new (or at least new to us). The comments about our (mostly Katie's) decorating style is that it is simple, yet elegant. We like simple lines and colors with a few very good accents. I don't know if there is a name for it. Maybe "urban chic" or "contemporary modern." But whatever it is, we can't go into a furniture store and tell a salesman what we are looking for. We can just spot something and say that's the one.
Between the two of us, Katie is much better at design decisions, although I like to have my opinion heard. We are lucky in that we both pretty much like the same thing. I put more importance on clocks and workflow and she puts more emphasis on overall design and the little touches like our fake plants scattered all throughout the house. And we like it.
Oh, by the way, I'll post some pictures of our house soon. I have some impressive before and after shots.

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day 2011!

Wow it is cold this morning! Seems like winter will never end. But Punxsutawney Phil saw no shadow, so that means no more winter!

We have these complicated models of weather predictions like doppler radar and weather balloons and the Weather Channel with in-depth wall-sized graphics of pressure fronts and weathermen with white sport coats. Unfortunately to most of us the Weather Channel, and all weather forecasts wherever they are is just some form of fiction. And no matter what Thunderstorm or Snowpocalypse of whatever, whom do we trust? A groundhog surrounded by men in funny hats.

I guess we'll see if the groundhog is right. Only time will tell. After all, he's only right 39 percent of the time.

Can't have what you want when you want it

This seems to be a recurring lesson I have to learn in my life. I had strep throat over the week end and was banished to my room alone all day Sunday and all day Monday. It was kinda hard for me. I was alone and couldn't have what I wanted when I wanted. I wanted to be with someone. Anyone. I choose alone time often over being with other people but finally when I was told you can't spend time with anyone it because the worst option ever. There is that saying 'you don't realize what you have until it is gone.' Its a true phrase. Oh so true.

Many a time are we ungrateful or take for granted the things that we have. It isn't until the people we love are suddenly out of town or unavailable that we miss them. When we do have the choice we take it for granted. This is true on many other aspects. We take things for granted then one day there is an accident and we loose things or have blessings taken away from us such as the use of a hand or leg or the ability to take care of ourselves. These daily tasks we overlook and forget oftentimes. It may be things like taking for granted the things that make our lives easier and more manageable like a cell phone or a portable laptop. Then all of a sudden we are reminded of it true value when its gone or un-useable.

Life has these sudden things to wake us and make us slow down and appreciate the things around us. We can't always have what we want when we want it. Life doesn't work that way. We wouldn't grow or progress if it did. I am thankful for time time I get to spend with Braden because it seems so many times when I want to spend time with him I can't. (mostly because of our work schedules conflicting) I am grateful for my family. I miss them especially on days that someone is sick. I am grateful for my job, my students and teaching especially in times that I can't be there.

The other lessons we learn through the idea we can't have what we want when we want it is patience.  Patience is when you have to wait a really long time. As we prepare to buy/move into our house I have come to the realization I wouldn't be able to fix up or cute-ify our house in the time that I would like to. The funds aren't there and my time to spend on projects is limited. I have to learn patience. I am grateful for Braden who is much more patient than me. I am learning patience a little more slowly than the lesson on gratitude but both are important.

These 2 lessons seem to be recurring in my life and will continue to keep happening until I can truly learn to be grateful and patient. I don't know if it will happen in this life time so I am glad I have eternity to become perfect.

Getting ready to move

We've known for a month now that we would be moving. And we have wasted no time getting things packed up. Even though "moving day" isn't until the end of February, we already have a great deal of the apartment packed up in boxes.

I have felt a little like I'm on a reverse treasure hunt. Instead of looking for hidden treasures, I'm discovering things I had forgotten we had or at least hadn't seen for a while, only to put it into a box or throw out. It's fun and painful at the same time.

There is a lot of stress involved in moving. Katie and I have been quite unlike our friends our age since we haven't moved at all since we got married. In fact she hasn't moved since more than two years before we got married because I moved into the apartment she was already in with roommates. And besides the fact we both loved the apartment, it was easier to kick the roommates out than find a new place.

I'm not saying this will be the only house we live in the rest of our lives, but I'm of course not ruling out the possibility. The house has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Plenty of space for a family to grow into. And we know how (or at least know someone who knows how) to update the parts of the house that need it, like the kitchen. We are allowing a couple weeks between closing day and moving day to repair and paint, and other minor details. We will post more here about those projects later.

We've bought a house!

It has been a month since I last wrote. And a lot of things have happened recently.

We found (or actually our agent found) the perfect house. We had decided previously that we would wait until summer 2011 before we were serious about moving. But along came the perfect opportunity, and we happened to have all our ducks in a row already. It is a 4 bedroom 2 bath house. Full finished basement, about 2000 sq ft altogether. We close in February. More details to come.

DLNA is the future!

I've always been interested in following the latest trends in technology. I've watched Apple as they announced just about everything since 2006. And I actively read technology blogs and watch all the coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas every year. One day I might actually go to it.

Many people believe that the future technology is having an internet connection in everything from cell phones and computers to TVs and refrigerators. While this may actually be true, I tend to believe that in the near future, WiFi will be available in all homes, schools, businesses, and public streets. Its often free WiFi in major places downtown, and of course on college campuses. And internet speeds are getting faster and less expensive. We can expect that trend to continue. And streaming media will be everywhere.

The up-and-coming technology that I hope catches on and becomes mainstream is called DLNA. It stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. Its a standard for moving movies, music, photos, and other media from device to device. It un-complicates network configuration and DRM issues. Basically you have a server device and a client device. The server device, usually a Network Attached Storage (NAS) or a PC on your network, is where the media is stored, and the client device could be a cell phone, TV, another computer, etc.

Sony just announced a new toy coming out this year. Its a series of network-enabled speakers. They are DLNA certified. It makes it easy to take your music from your DLNA compliant Blu Ray player and play it in another room using the same home network your computers use. They call it Home Share Audio. There is one that doubles as an iPod dock so you can play the music from it anywhere in your house you want it. And there is also a function called Party mode that puts the same music on every speaker in the house. Or you can choose to have different music playing in every room. There is also a handy app that runs on Android devices or iPhones and iPod touch or iPad to control the whole system, including volume levels, playlists, and song selection. All pretty cool stuff.

Most households these days have multiple computers where the media is stored. And in the past if you wanted to play something in more than one place you had to copy the media to a second or third place to play it. But with DLNA there is no more need to burn CDs or have three copies of the same song on computers in your network. Just put them all in one place and stream it where you want it. The solution that I think makes the most sense is a network drive or NAS. That way you don't have to have a computer "always on" to stream whenever you want. I don't have a NAS yet, but in the future I will. And I'll get one that is DLNA compliant. It would also be nice if it was an iTunes server since that's what I use to organize my music.

Photos are also DLNA shareable media. I've taken thousands of pictures that are stored on one computer. I've made backup disks of them all, but there is no easy way to show a large group of people vacation photos or whatever all at the same time. It would be awesome to tap into the media server where the photos are stored and show them on a TV through a set-top box or game console like PS3 or XBox. Or even on a DLNA compliant TV set. Some newer TVs have an SD card slot too, which is nice. But it's not the best solution for me since I delete the SD card after I transfer the pictures over to my computer.

A technology that Apple announced last year in conjunction with the new Apple TV is called AirPlay. Steve Jobs claimed it to be a new and magical technology. But it's just a copy of DLNA, except with Apple's proprietary DRM that allows it to use iTunes playlists. Although I love Apple, I think it would have just been easier to adopt DLNA in the Apple TV instead of making third-party systems reprogram streaming capabilities to use AirPlay. Sure, it's a good business move to hop on the Apple money stream and get your devices working with AirPlay. But it would have made more sense for Apple to change its own technology to be already compatible with everything else.

The beauty of DLNA is that you can have devices made by Sony, or by Denon, or Samsung, multiple kinds of cell phones, and they can all speak to each other without any additional configuration or setups or workarounds. To take a page from Apple, DLNA "just works."  And that is why I believe it is the future. People already spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on their home theater. Why buy more new devices by all the same brand just so they can be compatible. Its makes more sense to update the firmware on existing TVs, Blu Ray player, AV receivers, etc. to be DLNA compliant. Of course some devices have hardware limitations, but you probably knew that you couldn't play Blu Rays on your DVD player, or VCR. Then it makes perfect sense to get a new device that does the latest technology.

Another advantage to a DLNA compliant home network system is one remote to control it all. No having a basket or table full of ten remotes you have to switch to do different things, Just use your iPhone or iPad. Simple.